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lau3rie's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love a good viral pandemic story...and maybe this wasn't quite that, but it's a little above average for sure. The terrorism part I could take or leave.
It's painfully American at times, and very obviously written by a dude, neither of which are necessarily negative but I was perhaps not the intended target audience.
Neither the writing style nor the characterisation are particularly complex or innovative, but they're serviceable. Definitely some visceral descriptions but not quite rising to The Hot Zone levels of illustrating what an ebola infection is like Bobby Adair does do a great job of driving the book forwards at a breathless, frenetic pace - it's very much a page turner!
It's also definitely part 1 of 3 rather than a story that stands fully on its own, so the ending is very abrupt.
I got book 1 for free which was definitely good value, and it held my attention enough to get me to pay for the next two installments.
It's painfully American at times, and very obviously written by a dude, neither of which are necessarily negative but I was perhaps not the intended target audience.
Neither the writing style nor the characterisation are particularly complex or innovative, but they're serviceable. Definitely some visceral descriptions but not quite rising to The Hot Zone levels of illustrating what an ebola infection is like Bobby Adair does do a great job of driving the book forwards at a breathless, frenetic pace - it's very much a page turner!
It's also definitely part 1 of 3 rather than a story that stands fully on its own, so the ending is very abrupt.
I got book 1 for free which was definitely good value, and it held my attention enough to get me to pay for the next two installments.
vikingwolf's review
3.0
Austin and Rashid are in Uganda where Austin is teaching street kids who otherwise would not get an education of any kind. There is an Ebola outbreak in nearby Sierra Leone which they are trying not to think about and they are alarmed when the car driver mentions rumours of Ebola in their area area. Six days later the boys return to their community and find it like a ghost town, the hospital overrun with infected people. Now Austin and Rashid are faced with the very real prospect of becoming infected from a strain that could be airborne. At their homes, relatives of both boys are concerned at the danger that their relatives are in and Rashid's brother Najid sets out on a rescue mission but he also wants revenge on the western nations who will let all the people there die and only try to protect their own countries.
In Pakistan, a group of young men have been recruited to train as jihadis, abandoning their western lives to become deadly instruments of evil. Najid decides to use his influence to buy these young men for his revenge mission, taking them to the Ebola hotspot to get them infected before planning to send them home on aircraft to the western world to infect their own countries. The jihadists have no idea what their mission is going to be, told instead that photographs are being taken of their aid work so they can more easily pass inspection at immigration when they return home but a few are having second thoughts about what they got mixed up in.
I so much wanted to love this book as anything about Ebola is interesting and the terrorism plot with an airborne strain sounded like exactly my kind of read. The plot itself is ok and the way the story is written is fine but I really didn't like most of the characters which made it hard to really get into the book. First there was the spoiled brat who decides to leave the west to become a jihadi. I am never going to like this character but it seems we are meant to have some kind of sympathy for him when he begins to have doubts about what he is involved in? Sorry mate, too late, you are scum! You were ready to attack innocent people for your cause so I look forward to your death in agony buster. Austin's sister Olivia is supposed to be smart if she is working for the NSA but she comes across as a dopey bimbo who is flirting with a sleazy expert while they discuss Ebola. That whole section was just weird. As for the annoying step mum Heidi who is constantly pestering the officials to look for Austin, hang up on her and block her calls from getting through instead of pandering to the annoying woman and then complaining about her!!! Don't even get me started on Najid and his stupid revenge mission.
Austin is the clean cut all American hero who is selflessly helping the poor Africans on his charity break abroad-a bit of a cliche but I guess I found him ok. The most interesting member of his family is his father Paul, who has been anxiously watching the outbreak news and trying to get in touch with his son. Paul fears for an outbreak in the US because of the danger of international travel spreading the disease, so he takes measures to start prepping for the worst. I did at least find his behaviour a bit more realistic than most of the other cast. I did also quite like Rashid. I really felt sorry for the poor people in the community that nobody seemed to care about and were just left to die horrible deaths, along with the heroic staff who gave their lives to try and help them in the hospital. I felt worse for them than a couple of random Americans wandering constantly into trouble to be honest. Why return to the community after being warned of an outbreak there! I'd be off to the nearest medical place to get checked out!
I did feel at times that the plot was wandering about all over the place. Najid was moaning about no help going to the poor Africans from the west but when the medical teams try to get to the town to help, Najid just has them all killed. Yes that is really going to help the people. I notice that he wasn't trying to give any treatment to the people of the town, just to his brother, so what does that say about him and his stupid morality stance? I found sections of the book frustrating like that and the plot did drag in a few places. The female characters as usual were dumb and annoying, which really drives me mad in these apocalypse books. It got to the stage where I just lost interest incertain plotlines though I did finish the book. I won't be reading on with the rest of the series though.
In Pakistan, a group of young men have been recruited to train as jihadis, abandoning their western lives to become deadly instruments of evil. Najid decides to use his influence to buy these young men for his revenge mission, taking them to the Ebola hotspot to get them infected before planning to send them home on aircraft to the western world to infect their own countries. The jihadists have no idea what their mission is going to be, told instead that photographs are being taken of their aid work so they can more easily pass inspection at immigration when they return home but a few are having second thoughts about what they got mixed up in.
I so much wanted to love this book as anything about Ebola is interesting and the terrorism plot with an airborne strain sounded like exactly my kind of read. The plot itself is ok and the way the story is written is fine but I really didn't like most of the characters which made it hard to really get into the book. First there was the spoiled brat who decides to leave the west to become a jihadi. I am never going to like this character but it seems we are meant to have some kind of sympathy for him when he begins to have doubts about what he is involved in? Sorry mate, too late, you are scum! You were ready to attack innocent people for your cause so I look forward to your death in agony buster. Austin's sister Olivia is supposed to be smart if she is working for the NSA but she comes across as a dopey bimbo who is flirting with a sleazy expert while they discuss Ebola. That whole section was just weird. As for the annoying step mum Heidi who is constantly pestering the officials to look for Austin, hang up on her and block her calls from getting through instead of pandering to the annoying woman and then complaining about her!!! Don't even get me started on Najid and his stupid revenge mission.
Austin is the clean cut all American hero who is selflessly helping the poor Africans on his charity break abroad-a bit of a cliche but I guess I found him ok. The most interesting member of his family is his father Paul, who has been anxiously watching the outbreak news and trying to get in touch with his son. Paul fears for an outbreak in the US because of the danger of international travel spreading the disease, so he takes measures to start prepping for the worst. I did at least find his behaviour a bit more realistic than most of the other cast. I did also quite like Rashid. I really felt sorry for the poor people in the community that nobody seemed to care about and were just left to die horrible deaths, along with the heroic staff who gave their lives to try and help them in the hospital. I felt worse for them than a couple of random Americans wandering constantly into trouble to be honest. Why return to the community after being warned of an outbreak there! I'd be off to the nearest medical place to get checked out!
I did feel at times that the plot was wandering about all over the place. Najid was moaning about no help going to the poor Africans from the west but when the medical teams try to get to the town to help, Najid just has them all killed. Yes that is really going to help the people. I notice that he wasn't trying to give any treatment to the people of the town, just to his brother, so what does that say about him and his stupid morality stance? I found sections of the book frustrating like that and the plot did drag in a few places. The female characters as usual were dumb and annoying, which really drives me mad in these apocalypse books. It got to the stage where I just lost interest incertain plotlines though I did finish the book. I won't be reading on with the rest of the series though.
vikingwolf's review against another edition
3.0
Austin and Rashid are in Uganda where Austin is teaching street kids who otherwise would not get an education of any kind. There is an Ebola outbreak in nearby Sierra Leone which they are trying not to think about and they are alarmed when the car driver mentions rumours of Ebola in their area area. Six days later the boys return to their community and find it like a ghost town, the hospital overrun with infected people. Now Austin and Rashid are faced with the very real prospect of becoming infected from a strain that could be airborne. At their homes, relatives of both boys are concerned at the danger that their relatives are in and Rashid's brother Najid sets out on a rescue mission but he also wants revenge on the western nations who will let all the people there die and only try to protect their own countries.
In Pakistan, a group of young men have been recruited to train as jihadis, abandoning their western lives to become deadly instruments of evil. Najid decides to use his influence to buy these young men for his revenge mission, taking them to the Ebola hotspot to get them infected before planning to send them home on aircraft to the western world to infect their own countries. The jihadists have no idea what their mission is going to be, told instead that photographs are being taken of their aid work so they can more easily pass inspection at immigration when they return home but a few are having second thoughts about what they got mixed up in.
I so much wanted to love this book as anything about Ebola is interesting and the terrorism plot with an airborne strain sounded like exactly my kind of read. The plot itself is ok and the way the story is written is fine but I really didn't like most of the characters which made it hard to really get into the book. First there was the spoiled brat who decides to leave the west to become a jihadi. I am never going to like this character but it seems we are meant to have some kind of sympathy for him when he begins to have doubts about what he is involved in? Sorry mate, too late, you are scum! You were ready to attack innocent people for your cause so I look forward to your death in agony buster. Austin's sister Olivia is supposed to be smart if she is working for the NSA but she comes across as a dopey bimbo who is flirting with a sleazy expert while they discuss Ebola. That whole section was just weird. As for the annoying step mum Heidi who is constantly pestering the officials to look for Austin, hang up on her and block her calls from getting through instead of pandering to the annoying woman and then complaining about her!!! Don't even get me started on Najid and his stupid revenge mission.
Austin is the clean cut all American hero who is selflessly helping the poor Africans on his charity break abroad-a bit of a cliche but I guess I found him ok. The most interesting member of his family is his father Paul, who has been anxiously watching the outbreak news and trying to get in touch with his son. Paul fears for an outbreak in the US because of the danger of international travel spreading the disease, so he takes measures to start prepping for the worst. I did at least find his behaviour a bit more realistic than most of the other cast. I did also quite like Rashid. I really felt sorry for the poor people in the community that nobody seemed to care about and were just left to die horrible deaths, along with the heroic staff who gave their lives to try and help them in the hospital. I felt worse for them than a couple of random Americans wandering constantly into trouble to be honest. Why return to the community after being warned of an outbreak there! I'd be off to the nearest medical place to get checked out!
I did feel at times that the plot was wandering about all over the place. Najid was moaning about no help going to the poor Africans from the west but when the medical teams try to get to the town to help, Najid just has them all killed. Yes that is really going to help the people. I notice that he wasn't trying to give any treatment to the people of the town, just to his brother, so what does that say about him and his stupid morality stance? I found sections of the book frustrating like that and the plot did drag in a few places. The female characters as usual were dumb and annoying, which really drives me mad in these apocalypse books. It got to the stage where I just lost interest incertain plotlines though I did finish the book. I won't be reading on with the rest of the series though.
In Pakistan, a group of young men have been recruited to train as jihadis, abandoning their western lives to become deadly instruments of evil. Najid decides to use his influence to buy these young men for his revenge mission, taking them to the Ebola hotspot to get them infected before planning to send them home on aircraft to the western world to infect their own countries. The jihadists have no idea what their mission is going to be, told instead that photographs are being taken of their aid work so they can more easily pass inspection at immigration when they return home but a few are having second thoughts about what they got mixed up in.
I so much wanted to love this book as anything about Ebola is interesting and the terrorism plot with an airborne strain sounded like exactly my kind of read. The plot itself is ok and the way the story is written is fine but I really didn't like most of the characters which made it hard to really get into the book. First there was the spoiled brat who decides to leave the west to become a jihadi. I am never going to like this character but it seems we are meant to have some kind of sympathy for him when he begins to have doubts about what he is involved in? Sorry mate, too late, you are scum! You were ready to attack innocent people for your cause so I look forward to your death in agony buster. Austin's sister Olivia is supposed to be smart if she is working for the NSA but she comes across as a dopey bimbo who is flirting with a sleazy expert while they discuss Ebola. That whole section was just weird. As for the annoying step mum Heidi who is constantly pestering the officials to look for Austin, hang up on her and block her calls from getting through instead of pandering to the annoying woman and then complaining about her!!! Don't even get me started on Najid and his stupid revenge mission.
Austin is the clean cut all American hero who is selflessly helping the poor Africans on his charity break abroad-a bit of a cliche but I guess I found him ok. The most interesting member of his family is his father Paul, who has been anxiously watching the outbreak news and trying to get in touch with his son. Paul fears for an outbreak in the US because of the danger of international travel spreading the disease, so he takes measures to start prepping for the worst. I did at least find his behaviour a bit more realistic than most of the other cast. I did also quite like Rashid. I really felt sorry for the poor people in the community that nobody seemed to care about and were just left to die horrible deaths, along with the heroic staff who gave their lives to try and help them in the hospital. I felt worse for them than a couple of random Americans wandering constantly into trouble to be honest. Why return to the community after being warned of an outbreak there! I'd be off to the nearest medical place to get checked out!
I did feel at times that the plot was wandering about all over the place. Najid was moaning about no help going to the poor Africans from the west but when the medical teams try to get to the town to help, Najid just has them all killed. Yes that is really going to help the people. I notice that he wasn't trying to give any treatment to the people of the town, just to his brother, so what does that say about him and his stupid morality stance? I found sections of the book frustrating like that and the plot did drag in a few places. The female characters as usual were dumb and annoying, which really drives me mad in these apocalypse books. It got to the stage where I just lost interest incertain plotlines though I did finish the book. I won't be reading on with the rest of the series though.
astrilde's review against another edition
4.0
Perhaps not the most appropriate book given current circumstances, but at least is isn't The Jakarta Pandemic by Steven Konkoly, that would be a bit too close for comfort.
Started for World Book Day 2020
Started for World Book Day 2020
kitten1318's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, this isn't typically the type of book I read, but it was free on Amazon Kindle, so I gave it a shot. I have to say, I liked this book! It's short and an easy read, but I liked the story and it kept my interest. I'm looking forward to the next installment...and I would love to see Austin back in Denver!!
angstyp's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely riveting. When the recent Ebola outbreak occurred, I was terrified of something like an airborne strain, and this book just puts all of my thoughts into words and in a great story. The cliffhanger killed me though, I've got the second book waiting for me now. But just.. Wow. This is a great series, I'll be reading it to the end.
tchristman's review against another edition
4.0
Auuuugh! I really have to wait so long for the next books in the series? Yup, you suckered me in with your free 1st installment on an oh, so, relevant topic. Well played Mr. Adair, well played!
mjqueen's review
4.0
NOOOOOOOO! Okay, now that is out of the way, let me just say one thing; NOOOOOOO, NO, No, no! Seriously, it can't end like that and make me wait until "late fall 2014" for the next book in the series. That is just not right, Mr. Adair.
In all seriousness, this book was awesome and sucked me in from the start. I am not usually one to get into the location of a book but I have many friends from Somalia and I was intrigued seeing how far Kapchorwa was from my friends' town in Somalia. I have Google Mapped Kapchorwa, Mbale, and Mount Elgon National Park so many times that I am sure that I will end up on some NSA watch list if this book ever comes to fruition. I loved the characters and their realness in dealing with the Ebola virus. I learned a lot too and I am now going to wonder how I would handle myself and family if we knew Ebola was in the United States. Scary stuff, so "props" to [a:Bobby Adair|7102287|Bobby Adair|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-e89fc14c32a41c0eb4298dfafe929b65.png] for this book and I will be, not so patiently, waiting for the next book in the series.
In all seriousness, this book was awesome and sucked me in from the start. I am not usually one to get into the location of a book but I have many friends from Somalia and I was intrigued seeing how far Kapchorwa was from my friends' town in Somalia. I have Google Mapped Kapchorwa, Mbale, and Mount Elgon National Park so many times that I am sure that I will end up on some NSA watch list if this book ever comes to fruition. I loved the characters and their realness in dealing with the Ebola virus. I learned a lot too and I am now going to wonder how I would handle myself and family if we knew Ebola was in the United States. Scary stuff, so "props" to [a:Bobby Adair|7102287|Bobby Adair|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-e89fc14c32a41c0eb4298dfafe929b65.png] for this book and I will be, not so patiently, waiting for the next book in the series.